Will Verona's chaperone policy be revisited?

An F.N. Brown parent voiced his concerns regarding Verona’s new chaperone policy during the Jan. 22 Board of Education meeting. What are your thoughts on the situation? Send a letter to the editor to vcgtimes@northjersey.com.

After chaperones were accused of throwing a late-night party, drinking alcohol, and leaving students during an overnight camping trip last year, the Verona Board of Education created strict regulations to avoid future problems. Now, those regulations may need revisiting due to a parent's concerns regarding the inability to attend class trips.

"My wife works full time, she travels for work, drops off my daughter, goes to work, picks her up in after care and she takes her personal days ... to go on these class trips," Luftglass said of his wife Doris. "It seemed important for my wife to go and the answers just didn't make sense or add up to me why she wasn't allowed."

Upon asking permission to attend the trip, Luftglass said his wife was told that due to the lack of tickets available for the event, which were purchased in December, she could not attend the outing.

According to Superintendent Steven Forte, the new field trip policy states that school officials will only take the number of parents needed to chaperone a trip.

"If the administration feels that they need five parents, they can only take five parents," Forte said. "If 10 want to go, we're still only going to take five."

While understanding the policy, Luftglass said he was still confused as to why it was so difficult to arrange for school officials to attempt to purchase an extra ticket for his wife.

Luftglass said he eventually received permission for his wife to attend the trip, but the stress they experienced in order to spend time with their child caused him to speak out.

"If the parent wants to take part, why can't we open that up," Luftglass said. "If somebody does have time, and will pay their way and drive by themselves, why couldn't any parent, if it makes them feel more comfort in what's going on in today's world, go on these trips? Rather than send the children with people they essentially don't know."

After Luftglass addressed the board, its members expressed interest in revisiting the topic of chaperone regulations.

Forte explained that while he is interested in hashing out the issue, his elementary principal experience leads him to believe there are some logistical issues that would cause a problem with opening up school trips to all parents.

"We needed to tighten up field trips because there were too many people going on some of them," Forte said. "If you need five chaperones and you bring 20, that often causes a problem."

Another issue, Forte explained, is the case-by-case situation of each individual trip. For instance, attending an event at the Paper Mill Playhouse opposed to the Turtle Back Zoo is completely different in terms of space. Fewer parents are able to attend Paper Mill due to the lack of seats and limited tickets, Forte said. Hence, it is hard to open all trips to everyone for this reason.

Luftglass also questioned what makes chaperones more qualified than others. He asked the board about the privileges class parents have over regular parents when it comes to field trips. Luftglass also questioned the types of background checks the district enforces.

According to the field trip regulations posted on the district's website, found at www.veronaschools.org, "When a staff member, who is responsible for a school sponsored trip, determines the need for chaperones, he/she along with the principal will be responsible for determining the required number and taking the necessary steps to secure the additional personnel."

Because Luftglass and his wife do not have the time to dedicate as a class parents, he felt that they had limited opportunities to chaperone. However, the regulations do not state that class parents are chosen over other parents.

The Times reached out to Forte for additional information, but was unable to obtain a comment before press time.

The Board of Education's next public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. in the Verona High School library. The high school is located at 151 Fairview Ave.